Crest of the Stars follows Ghintec Linn (aka Jinto Lynn), a young count whose world is taken over by the space-dwelling race of the Abh. When Ghintec was a young boy, his father, Rock Lynn, under threat of invasion, handed over their world, Martine, to the Abh in exchange for a position within Abh society. Young Ghintec is sent off to school to learn the ways of Abh nobility and the story of Crest of the Stars picks up as he meets the young Abh princess, Lamhirh (aka Lafiel) as they are about to travel to military school for Ghintec's further training.

However, in the midst of their travels, Lamhirh and Ghintec (along with the Abh ship Gothlauth, aka Gosroth) find themselves at the very beginnings of a war between the Abh Empire and the Four Nations Alliance of humankind—an anti-Abh alliance of the democratic nations of the United Mankind, the Federation of Hania, the Republic of Greater Alcont, and the People's Sovereign Union of Planets.